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TWO 

MISSOURI HISTORIANS. 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE STATE HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY OF MISSOURI, AT ITS FIRST ANNUAL 
MEETING, HELD AT COLUMBIA, DECEMBER 5, 1901. 



REPUBLICAN PRINT 

MARYVILLE, MO. 

1902. 




Gtti./^,mkhii^h}^dhi 



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TWO 

MISSOURI HISTORIANS. 



•^•^•^ •.#''^' '^•>ik*'^- 

v-\;i r(\ \ \ n, 'i. w . r'.,o, ti > y\ ■%> o. r\ 



A PAPER READ BEFORE THE STATE HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY OF MISSOURI, AT ITS FIRST ANNUAL 
MEETING, HELD AT COLUMBIA, DECEMBER 5, 1901. 










REPUBLICAN PKINT 
MARYVILLE, MO. 

1902. 



Only One Hundred copies privately printed, of which 
this is Number "^^^ y^ 






p. 

Author. 

(Pertan). 

f My'02 



TWO MISSOURI HISTORIANS. 

The following paper was read by H. E, Robinson, 
Editor of the Maryville, Mo. RepubUran, before the 
State Historical Society of Missouri at its first annual 
meeting held in Columbia, Mo.. December 6, 1901: 

One of the most important epochs in the history of 
the United States was that covered by the war oi 1861. 
I do not propose, of course, entering upon a close exam- 
ination of the causes that led up to that conflict, bu. a 
cursory review seems to be essential in the proper pre- 
sentation of the mattei- covered by this paper. 

The slavery question, with its accompanying issues of 
free trade and state sovereignity, were matters of bitter 
discussion from the time of the adoption of the federal 
constitution. I speak advisedly m classiug state sover- 
eignty as a side issue of slavery, for, while it was a 
prime factor in the discuswion over the adoption of the 
eonstitution of 1787, after that result it fell into the 
backgrouiKi except among the most strenuous uphold- 
ers of the svstem of slavery. 

The state of Missouri cHine into being through heat- 
ed although wordy confli'^t. Its very existence as a 
state was through a coriipromise on the slavery ques- 
tion. And oddly, though perhaps naturally, its polit- 
ical history from 1820 to 1861 .•> as so impregnated 
with bitterness and rancor tliat the state has been well 
styled by one of our historians "a bone of contention." 

In 1861, vvheu the fever of secession was rampant in 
the blood of all who believed in the doctrine of states' 
rights, or state sovereignty, Missouri was the most 
populous as well as one of the most wealthy of the 
slave-holding states. Naturally, there was a strong de- 
sire on the part of those who 'vere in favor of secession 
to see Missouri allie'l with tiie Southern states. And, 



just as naturally, tbere wa« as stronji; a wish on the 
part of those who believed in npho!(iinj2: the authority 
of the federal government to hold Missouri on the side 
ol the Uuion. 

It was not strano'e, then, that the poh'tieal contest of 

1860, and the preliminary strife of the first months of 

1861, in Missouri, were characterized by a struag'le in 

which every inch of jj-round was disputed, in which the 

leaders were mcu of the strongest} force, and in which no 

favors were asked or (;Tanted. Kach side seemed to 

7-ealize that as went Missouri so would go the conflict 

and their exertions were emph;i*izod by this conclusion. 

* * 
* 

1 think that a careful study of the situation as it then 
existed will lead any candid mind to the following con- 
clusion: Missouri would have ])a8sed an ordinance of 
secession and joined her interest with the Southern con- 
federacy had ic not been for two facts: 

1. By some scurcely explainable stupidit}^ the state 
legislature which convened at Jefferson City on the 31st 
of December, 1860, aud which was beyond doubt over- 
whelmingly in favor of secession, or, at least, of uunco- 
erciou, instead of grappliug the situation boldly, tem- 
poi'ized by passing an act providing for the election of 
a convention, and explicitiy giving to that convention 
all authority over federal relations. Members of that 
convention were chosen on February 18, 1861, and iw 
herculean work on the part of the Union men of the 
state the 104 members elected were Largely opposed to 
secessioii, although many of them were slaveliolders 
and ail but eighteen were natives of slave-holding states. 
When too iate the Irieads of secession saw their error, 
aud the more conserva,tive of them realized that the.y 
had forever missed their opportunity. 

2 When, on February 6, 1861. a company of regu- 
lars under the command of Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, 
marched into the St. Louis arsenal, the possibility of 
secession on the part of Missouri became naught. "Ke 
was the greatest ina.n I ever saw in my life," says Col. 
Snead. i met him on three r.ccasions— a-t the confei- 
ence between the Miss<ui!-i stale authorities and himself, 
on the battle Meld of Wilson's creek, and when I laid 




COL. JAMES PECKHAM. 



— 9— 

him in the f]^rave. All that happened in the space of 
about three months. I buried him by instruction from 
Gen. Price, and I said to njyself when I put him in the 
^'ound: 'That is the f2,Teatest enthusiast I ever saw, 
and the o-reatest man.' " 



What Lyon did can best be shortlj^ told in the words 
of Col. Snead, an opponent in all the woi-d implies, and 
hence his teslimor)3'' lacks anj^ suspicion of partiality. 
He says: 

"By oapturiijo.' the stfite militia at Camp Jackson, 
and driving' the (>;overnor from the capital, and all his 
troops into the uttermost corner of the state, and by 
holdiuo; Prince and Mc('ulloch at bay, he had ^iven the 
Union men Oi Missouri time opportunity and courage 
to bring their state convention toj2,ether again, and had 
given the convention an excuse and the power to depose 
Gov. Jackson and Lieut. Gov. Reynolds, to vacate the 
seats of the members of the general assembly, and to 
establish a state go vei-nineut which was loyal to the 
Union, and which would use the whole organized power 
of the state, its treasury, its credit, its militia, and all 
its great resources, to sustain the Union and crush the 
South. All this had been done while Lyon was boldly 
confronting the overwhelming strength of Price and 
-VlcCulloch. Had he abandoned Springfield instead, 
and opened to Price a pathway to the Missouri; had he 
not been willing to die for the freedom of the negro, and 
for the preservation of the Ui ion, none of these things 
would then have been done. By wisely planning, by 
boldly doing, and by bravely dying, he had won the 
fight for MJSHOui'i." 



The historical importance of the period covered by the 
war of secession in its co::nection with American an- 
nals will scarcely be disputed. And I am persuaded my 
hearers will at least partially admit the importance of 
this epoch that I have claimed for the state of Missouri, 
This being the case, brings us to the examination of the 
written history of that period, the prime fact endeavor- 
ed to be covered by this paper. 



—10— 

Thpre is no other state, with whose history I am con- 
versant, that has had so important an era as was that 
of 1861, covered so thoroughly, and yetsopraiseworth- 
ily, as has been that of Missouri. Its historians, one 
writing from the standpoint of an ardent Union man, 
the other from the view of an equally ardent supporter 
of secession, although writing two decades apart, each 
cover the period closing with the death of Gen. Lyon, 
on the 10th day of August, 1861, at Wilson's creek. 
Thus, seemingly, tiiey are agreed upon one point— that 
those few preguant months settled the fa.te of Missouri 
and (if the nation. 

A most curious coincidence will be noticed, that these 
opposing historians wee within a very short period 
each connected with the same paper in St. Louis, the 
Evening Bulletin, Peckiiam tirst, as founder ofthepaper 
and afterwards, Snead, as editor, after his fi-iend, Long- 
uemaii-e, had bouy,-ht it and ('hanged its politics. This 
point will be more fally brought out later on this arti- 
cle. 

* * 
In point of time, the Union liistory appeared first. In 
1866 was published in New York, a book entitled "Gen- 
eral Nathaniel Lyon and Missouri in 1861: A Mono- 
graph of the Great Rebellion, by James Peckham, for- 
merlv lieutenant colonel 8th infantry, Missouj-i volun- 
teers!" 

James Pecknam was born in New York city, at 690 
Water street, December 15, 1828. His father died of 
the cholera in 1832, and he was conijx-lled to nia.ke his 

living by perFonal effort from most extreme youth. I 
have been favored in obtaining a diary he kept for most 
of his life, from which some interesting details have been 
gathered. 

The entries in this diary p.ove him to have been one 
of the most ro^dng, restless be ngs imaginable. Of his 
first visit to l^.'Iissouri, he speaks thus: 

"Arrived in St. Louis, September 1, 1848, with 10 
cents m my pocket and three shirts tied up in a little 
carpet bair with an an old linen coat. 

"Was in St. Paul, Minn.. September 25. 1848. 



-11- 

"Occupied Oelober and half of Xoveinber in ti-aveling 
throuojh Neorii ska down t(3 the Kansas, down to the 
Missouri, down to St. Louis." 

oy 

In January, 1852, Mr. Peckha.m entered the erapl "^ 

of a telegraph company. installin<>: their lines, and cam 
to Sd. Louis again, stopping- at the Monroe house, cor" 
ner of Second and Olive streets. An entry in his diary 

sa,3's- 

"i^eft St. Louis. Wednesday, 25th (February, on board 
steauiboat Kansas, and a.i-rived at Boonville, Mo., Sat- 
urday ui})jht, 11 o'clock, February 28. 

"Took ch;vrg:e of Boonviile telegraph office, March 1, 
1852— two iustrinnents." 

In 1856 Mr. Peckhani returned to his native city, and 
in November, 1857, he ran i<n- the asseiiibly in the 10th 
New York district, nominated by both Republicans and 
Americans. As he forcibly expresses it, he "got beat," 
and in the spring of 1858 lie returned to St. Louis, and 
went to work for the Democrat. 

On Friday, July 8, he issued a prospectus for the 
Evening Bulletin, and his diary says. 

"Started Evening Balletin, daily paper, in St. Louis, 
July 18, 1859. Office on Locust street between Third 
and Fourth, north side, 

"Sold out Evening Bulletin to Eugene Longuemaire, 

Oct,(.bpr 18, 1850, for $3000." 

* 

After a visit to Europe, Mr Peckham returned to St, 
Louis, and in 1860 was elected to the legislature from 
St. Louis county. That fall he made Republican speech- 
es in various parts of iViissouri. He accompanied the 
Southwestern expedition under Gen. D. M. Frost, as a 
member of company A, 2d regiment, Capt. Schaffer. 

On June 11, 1861, the war department accepted the 
American zouaves, a regiment forming m St. Louis. On 
Saturday. July 27, the i-egiment, named the 8th Mis- 
souri, went from St. Louis to Cape (jirardeau to camp, 
officered by (>)1. Morgan L. Srairh, Lieut. Col. James 
Peckham and Mn]. John McDonald. 



-12- 

After takiDj? part m the Pittsburg landing the Corinth 
campaigns, Col. Peckham resigned and returned to Mis- 
souri, and on Monday, June 1(5, 1862, he was married 
to Miss Catherine Bohauuon, at Jefferson City The 
same day he began work for the St. Louis Daily Union, 
at which he continued until September 6, 1862, when he 
was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 29th Mis- 
souri volunteers, Col. John Cavender. On Mareh 14, 
1863, he was mustered as colonel of the regiment. He 
saw hard service, and w-s wounded in both arms, so 
that, as he says in his diary: 

"Mustered out of the service of the United States at 
my own request, on account of disability from wounds 
received in battle March 14, 1864." 

James Peckham was enrolled as a member of the bar 
Friday, Sepiember 8, 1865, by Judge Wilson Primm. 
He was introduced by Jo P. Vastine. 

Among the last entries ir: bis diary is the following: 

"Traveled over xvlissouri with (len. F. P. Blair on an 
electioneering toui-. during the months of May and June 
1866. 

"Start for New Yoi-k cit}^ to publish my life of L,jon, 
Friday, June 15. 1866." ' 



Col. Peckham died at Hot Springs, Ark., Junel, 1869, 
and his remams were brought to St. Louis and interred 
in Bellefontaine cemeterv. He left a x^idow and one 
daughter, who still reside in St. Louis. 

He wa.s a man of wit and good fellowship, although 
somewhat erratic by nature. His old associates seem 
to be united in saying that he was somewhat elusive, 
disappearing from view at times for several days, and 
not very easy to become acquainted with. 

His history of Missouri is a mass of documents and 
facts that can not be obtained elsewhere. Original or- 
ders, letters, proceedings of \arious committees, and 
tne like, fill the 400 pages of this book to such repletion 
that it is no wonder that Col. Snead aamits his indebt- 
edness to it as "a book whose glaring faults are more 
than compensated bv the important facts, the remem- 
brance whereof it has preserved." 




S*""^ 



COL THOMAS LOWNDES SNEAD, 



-15- 

Said a Jefferson City correspondent, of the Missouri 
Democrat, under date^of May 11, 1861: 

"From what I ovei-hear, I take it as a, fact, that a bill 
has passed appropriatino- money for the purpose of in- 
ducino- the savage Indian tribes to the west of us to 
make a descent upon Kansas and Iowa. I heard Mr. 
Peckham denounce to ;*. secessionist the heathenism of 
such a law, and the response he received was as follows: 

'It will be d d lucky for you fellows if u orse thinas 

than that ain't done to you belfore we are throuo'h with 
this thmo-.' " 



Among' the most valuable documents preserved for 
the historian l>y Col. Peckham were scores of letters 
sent from almost everA' section of Missouri to Col. F. P. 
Blair, which illustrate fully the feelino- of unrest and 
solicitude which then prevailed. As Col. Peckham states 
these selections were made ''from severs! bushels ot" let- 
ters sent to Col. Blair ar that time," and it is a source 
of much reg'rer that morn of this correspondence was 
not preserved. As it is, we are under obligations to 
Col. Peckham for the little we have. 

As corrobor.ative of the statement made toward the 
first of this paper, thai the legislature of 1861 was 
overwhelmingly iu favor of secession. I may herequote 
a passage from Col. Peckham's book concerning- the or- 
g:auization of that body, of which he was a member: 

"On the 2d of January an election for permanent 
officers was held in the house, and the successful candi- 
dates were entirely of the secession mold. Speaker Mc- 
Afee was an undisguised secessionist. The vote for 
speaker stood thus: McAfee, 76; all others, 48. On the 
niorniiig' of the 3d the lieutenant governoi- issued a 
private cn-cular, which was placed on the desks of cer- 
tain senators, inviting to his room all those seuatoj-s 
who were in hearty sympathv with 'our Southern breth- 
ren,' and who were 'firnily determined to see our sister 
states secure their rights.' for the purpose of making up 
the senate committees. Of all the ofhcers and clerks of 
Doth branches of the legislature. I know of but one who 
was not an avowed secessionist.'' 



—16— 

In 8ome respects Col. Snead, who has ^iven us the his- 
tory of the same period from a Confederate standpoint, 
was more fortunate than his predecessor. He had the 
advantage of all the docrimentary matter preserved by 
the former, as well as much other which had been 
brought to light, and the passions engendered by a 
cruel war had somewhat cooled, so that, taken as a 
whole, his book is more critical and possesses more of a 
historical tone than does that of Col. Peckham. 

In fact, Col. Snead's book, which appeared in 1886 
under the ti'le, ''The Fight for Missouri from the Elect- 
ion of Lincoln to the Death of Lyon, by Thomas L. 
Snead, A. L). C. of the Governor; Actmg Adjutant (i-^n- 
eral of the Missouri State Guard; Chief of Staff of the 
Army of the West; Member of the Confederate Con- 
gress," is so fair, while presenting his view of the con- 
flict, and so generous in ascribing merit to his oppon- 
ents, that there is a well substantiated belief on the 
part of many that to this cause is to be ascribed the 
failure of Col. Snead's book tv) receive that recognition 
from his fellows lliat lie thought it deserved, and which 
was certainly its (iue. 

Thomas Lowndes Snei'.d was born m Richmond. Va,., 
in 1827. Ele was graduated from the universify of Vir- 
ginia, and came to Missouri in 1851, setthng in St. 
Louis. While waiting for practice he clerked for awhile 
in the courthouse, and then entered into partnership 
with Judge Wickham. In November. 1852, hewas mar- 
ried to Miss Harriet V. Reel. lie practiced law in St. 
Louis until 18(51, and. as was frequently the case then 
with young lawyers, engaged ardently in newspaper 
political writing, becoming editor of the St. Louis Even- 
ing Bulletin, which eart;estiy supported Breckinridge 
for the prcsiilency, after the purchase of that paper »)y 
Longuentaii'e from its founder. James Peckha-ns. As 
illustrative of tlie position of the Breckinridge Demo- 
cra.cy at that time, I quote from Col. Snead's preface: 

'•\V'e belie vtd that the slave holding states could not 
remain iii the Union, with either safety or honor, unless 
thp North should consent to give thein constitutional 
guaian tees i-jtat their rights as coequal states of the 
Union should be both respected ar.d protected by the 
t'eden^l government, and because we thouglit that this 



question should be plainly submitted to the North in 
the then pending presidential election and a positive 
answer demanded. As Mr. Douglas' candidacy, with 
his policy of equivocation, prevented this question from 
being put fairly to the North, we opposed him and 
everyboay who supported him." 

* w 
* 

As further illustrating- the spirit which prevailed in 
those days, T may be pardoned for introducing the fol- 
lowing parenthetical statement: 

The St Louis Evening Bulletin was then owned by 
Eugene Louguemaire, who appears to have been a hot 
headed and quarrelsome secessionist. He attended the 
national Democratic convention at Charleston, S. C, in 
1860, with others from Missouri, and while there be- 
came engaged in a political controversy with Gen. 
James Craig, of St. Joseph, one of the delegates from 
Missouri to that convei;tiou. The dispute went to such 
an extent that Longueniaire challenged Gen. Craig to 
mortal ( ombat, and it was only by the cooler counsels 
of Gen. John B. Clark, of Fayette, and others that the 
difficulty was averted. 

Col. Snead became private secretary to Gov. Claiborne 
F. J ackson, early in 1861. He then entered military 
service as aid to Gen. Sterling Price and remained with 
him until the summer of 1864, when he entered the Con- 
federate Congress as a member from Missouri. After 
Gen. Price came back to the United States from Mexico, 
where he had gone at the close of the war, he turned 
over all his records and papers to Col. Snead, with the 
understanding that the latter was to write the history 
of Missouri in the confederacy. 



Col. Snead moved to New York city after the clcse of 
the war in 1865 and took the editor-ship of the Daily 
News. Two years leter he resumed the practice of law, 
and also pursued his literary researches. On October 
17, 1890, he died suddenlj^ of heart disease, and his re- 
mains were brought to St. Louis for burial. He left a 
widow and two children, who are still living in New 
Jersey. He left the manuscript covering the history- of 
Missouri in the confederacy, which is still in the possess- 



-20— 

ion of his widow. It liad been his aim to publish this, 
but disappointment at the cool reception accorded to 
his first volume caused him to reconsider his determin- 
ation, an act by which, I think, the world has been the 
loser. 
Said Col. Snead's brother-in-law to me: 

"He was a most loveable disposition, and it was im- 
possible for hmi, while being an intense partisan, to be 
otherwise than fair. I remember once in 1862 he was 
at Little Rock, Ark. and his wife went to see him. She 
made a remark to him one day that she would think he 
would 'just hate the Yankees.' To this he replied that 
he found it impossible to hate anybody, for he realized 
that all could not think alike. And so he continued 
through life, loving and being loved." 

Col. Suead rests where he would have chosen to be 
laid away, in beautiful Bellefoiitame cemetery, in St. 
Louis, in the state of his adoption. He and Col. Peck- 
ham, soldierly antagonists, rival historians, preservers 
of the annals of opposing sides, sleep their last sleep in 

the same Held . 

If * 

As a fitting parallel with Col. Snead's magnificent 
tribute to Gen. Lyon, quoted before, I will close with 
his equally eloquent judgment pas.sed upon Uen. Ster- 
ling Price after the battle of Wilson's creek. 

"Of danger he seemed to take no note, but he had 
none of that brilliant dash, of that fine frenzy of the 
fight, which men call gallantly, for he was great rather 
than brilliant. He was wise, too, and serenely brave, 
quick to see, prompt to act, and always right. From 
this time he was loved and trusted by his soldiers as no 
Missourian had ever been; and never th'^'reafter did he 
lose their trust and devotion, foi* throughout all the 
long years of waT-— years ciowded with victories and de- 
feats— the virtues which he displayed that day grew 
more conspicuous all the time, while around them clus- 
tered others which increased the splendor of these— un- 
selfish devotion to his native land, unending care for 
the men who fought under his flag, constancy under de- 
feat, patience under wrongs tiat were grievous, justice 
toward all men, and kindness toward every one." 




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